The Kindest Cut of All

Inlet Carved Across Fire Island by Sandy Flushes New Life Into Great South Bay

ENLARGE

Aerial photos of Fire Island in April 2005, before superstorm Sandy created the new inlet.
Charlie Flagg/Rich Giannotti

By

Will James

Sept. 18, 2013 9:37 p.m. ET

Fishermen and scientists report cleaner water and more marine life in the Great South Bay since superstorm Sandy blasted a new inlet across Fire Island, the slender land barrier that separates the Long Island bay from the Atlantic Ocean.

As government agencies move toward a decision on whether to close the opening, evidence is mounting that the breach may have sparked an ecological turnaround that has long eluded environmental advocates, commercial fishing interests and state policy makers.

ENLARGE

The inlet on Nov. 11 of last year, not long after the storm formed it.
Charlie Flagg/Rich Giannotti

ENLARGE

The inlet on Feb. 14
Charlie Flagg/Rich Giannotti

ENLARGE

The inlet on Sept. 15.
Charlie Flagg

For at least three decades, widespread blooms of algae have regularly darkened the waters of the bay. The blooms are traced to nitrogen seeping underground and into the bay, primarily from large sections of Long Island that rely on septic tanks but also from fertilizers and pesticides applied to lawns and farm crops. They have contributed to the demise of meadows of eelgrass used by fish for nurseries and shellfish beds that once supplied half the clams eaten in the U.S.

The breach has shifted the equation.

"This would have cost millions of dollars to create and nature created it for us, so we consider this Sandy's one gift," said Marshall Brown, president of Save the Great South Bay, a conservation group. "It showed us what the bay was when we were kids, and it showed us what it could be again."

The Great South Bay stretches for 32 miles along the South Shore of Long Island. Fishermen have reported seeing fluke, seals and river herring this year where they hadn't been seen in years. An algae bloom struck again this year, but it was less intense and dissipated quickly.

"The clams in the eastern part of the bay look better than they have in a long time." said Carl LoBue, a marine scientist for the Nature Conservancy. "They have big fat growth rings on them."

Earlier this year, scientists speculated the inlet might close on its own. But it proved stubborn. Charles Flagg, an oceanographer with Stony Brook University, said the size of the breach's throat—its narrowest and deepest stretch, which determines how much water passes through—has remained steady since winter.

The breach's overall width fluctuates, but through the summer it has hovered around 1,500 feet along the ocean and 500 feet along the bay.

ENLARGE

"The inlet seems to have reached some sort of stability," Mr. Flagg said. "That doesn't mean it's never going to change, get bigger or smaller. The general consensus is, without man interfering, inlets will close on their own. The question is how long it will take."

Some Long Island officeholders have urged the state to close the breach because they claim it has worsened flooding along the South Shore. Environmental advocates are urging officials not to do so. That decision rests with the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation, which earlier this year asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare to fill in the breach if it doesn't close naturally.

The DEC didn't return calls for comment. Earlier this year, the agency pointed out that its 1996 Breach Contingency Plan called for all breaches affecting Long Island to be closed if they don't fill in naturally.

The Fire Island National Seashore, the national park that oversees the barrier island, said it requested funding to conduct an environmental study of the inlet's impacts, and the results should guide the decision.

The breach has become a popular phenomenon on Long Island. Many people have made the one-mile walk from Smith Point to view the opening. Over the summer, anglers and swimmers gravitated to the sand flats where the breach opens into the bay.

To be sure, the inlet isn't the answer to all the Great South Bay's problems. Its influence seems to be limited to an eastern region consisting of three smaller bays within the Great South Bay complex: Bellport Bay, Narrow Bay and Patchogue Bay. And an algae bloom blanketed much of the bay this summer.

But data suggest improvement for the troubled body of water. Mr. Flagg said a sensor in Bellport Bay had logged higher salinity levels since the breach opened, a sign cleaner ocean water is mixing with the bay water. Chris Gobler, another Stony Brook scientist, said visibility near the inlet had historically been about three feet, but increased to about five feet this year. He added that this summer's brown tide was weaker and shorter-lived than previous ones.

"On the one hand, we didn't think there would be any brown tide," he said. "But the inlet seemed to keep it at bay or keep it somewhat in check and seemed to flush it out quickly."

Meanwhile, fishermen have been tracking anecdotal changes of their own.

"You can literally see sea robins on the bottom in eight to 10 feet of water," said Mike Busch, 48, a financial adviser from the hamlet of Brookhaven who fishes from his boat near the inlet. "This is the only good thing this storm did, and it just shocks me that it's the one thing the politicians are trying to stop."

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.